CBR 6

He had made his decision bravely, but once he actually stepped outside, it was like a vast, boundless ocean. Jaewon looked blankly at the unfamiliar faces on the alien street. Would Alice, who had tumbled into Wonderland, have felt like this? As he walked down the street, he felt a continuous sense of incongruity and strangeness. Was this what it felt like to become an outsider existing in a world where one shouldn’t be? In truth, that was correct, but it wasn’t a particularly pleasant feeling.

Jaewon headed to the bank while chewing on a kimbap he had bought at a convenience store. Grasping his current financial situation was priority number one. Despite being forcibly drafted as a character in a novel, he still periodically felt thirst and hunger. He knew very well that maintaining human dignity cost quite a lot. As a result of diligently making the rounds between banks and public offices, his current financial situation was surprisingly similar to back when he was a high school student.

It meant he was penniless.

A completely helpless orphan with no relatives to rely on, a moldy studio apartment, and even a bank account practicing non-possession.

With this trinity of non-existence, it was at a level where his own high school days had been plucked out and pasted in as they were. Since his name, body, and environment were identical to reality, it seemed he was an extra who hadn’t even been given a proper setup within the novel. Jaewon let out a hollow laugh and thrust his middle finger up toward the sky.

“Ah, man… This is driving me insane.”

Being a useless extra was pitiful beyond belief, but at any rate, he had to secure a source of funds first. Execution power for anything stemmed from capital. When calculated by return on time, nothing beat private tutoring, but he needed money right this instant. His wallet was so empty it would fly away if blown on.

Deep in thought, Jaewon came to a halt. Far off, he saw a group of students in school uniforms gathered together. Gathering deep inside an alley and blowing out suspicious smoke, they were a group that looked rotten at a single glance. Cigarette butts were messily scattered at the students’ feet, but all the pedestrians just passed by, and no one took issue with it.

‘Littering cigarette butts!’

Jaewon’s eyes sparkled. Ever since the reward system for reporting illegal cigarette butt littering was established, he had become a citizen with a thorough respect for the law. To the human dashcam Bae Jaewon, delinquent youths were a splendid source of income. He swiftly opened his flip phone. He already missed the touch sensation of a smartphone, but for now, he focused on the cake right in front of his eyes.

Click. Click.

He took photos and videos of the students chain-smoking one after another, but a picture that satisfied him didn’t come out. Personal information was necessary for filing a report, but perhaps because of the distance, no matter how much he zoomed in, their faces didn’t come out properly. Jaewon gradually approached them. Only after capturing each person’s face and name tag on the screen angle by angle did he turn his feet around with satisfaction.

However, before he could take more than a few steps, something heavy landed on his shoulder with a thud. At the considerable weight, Jaewon gasped and staggered his legs. As he raised his head with a grimace across his whole face, a shadow fell over his countenance.

“Did they come out well?”

A deep bass voice that sounded like it resonated from a cave spoke to him in a friendly manner. He couldn’t recognize the face because of the backlighting, but he could see the man’s glinting eyes. A trickle of cold sweat ran down his back.

“Seeing a guy with a dick taking photos is fresh no matter how many times I see it.”

Laughing as if amused, he took out the cigarette he had held in his mouth and exhaled a long breath. His sharp jawline stood out, and the smoke scattered into the air. Jaewon discovered the school uniform jacket the man wore draped over his shoulder like baggage and swallowed a hiccup. He was one of the delinquents cast in his cigarette butt report video.

‘Uh… When on earth.’

He possessed a huge build that was hard to believe for a high school student whose growth wasn’t even finished yet. His tall height and broad shoulders like a swimmer made one question his race, and the chest muscles bulging above his shirt were threatening. His monolid eyes were torn long to the side, giving off a fierce impression, and his high bridge of the nose was sharp enough to cut. In a word, the guy looked like he had a terribly foul temperament.

“Shall we take a look?”

Flicking off the cigarette ash with a tap, the delinquent spoke brightly. He put his arm around Jaewon’s shoulder affectionately and acted without ceremony, but his eyes weren’t laughing. Jaewon felt his Adam’s apple move on its own. His instinct was screaming.

‘I’m fucked.’

No matter if it was inside a novel, his five senses were alive, and Jaewon was a human who hated being hurt more than anything in the world. Normally in these situations, an extra was used as a device to demonstrate the delinquent’s cruelty and then thrown away. Facing the danger of ending up in a hospital bed while trying to make quick cash, he ran his brain at full capacity.

“I took them because you were handsome, so why are you acting like this?”

“What?”

When Jaewon tested the waters, the delinquent raised the corners of his lips as if it were absurd. It was something said without even wetting his lips with spit while only the outline of the face was visible due to the backlighting, but Jaewon always sold his conscience first in the face of a crisis.

“Don’t play cheap tricks and hand over the phone. What are you going to use photos of us eating cloud bread for?”

‘Damn it.’

However, the opponent seemed to see right through Jaewon’s mind. When his trickery didn’t work at all, he immediately embarked on Plan B.

“Hyung! I’m a total fan!”

Jaewon suddenly wailed and threw his body like Nongae. The delinquent, who failed to dodge in time, and Jaewon’s bodies docked intensely, and the two separated while spouting profanities at the same time.

“Ah, fuck. Do you want to die?”

“Fuck, that’s why you should have dodged well… Ahhh! Hyung! You’re really handsome!”

Almost losing his sanity over the unwanted physical contact, Jaewon hurriedly smoothed over his words. Fortunately, the delinquent asked in bewilderment as if he hadn’t noticed.

“Do you know me?”

“Is there anyone who doesn’t know you, Hyung? Photos don’t capture your real face at all. Seriously. It’s insane.”

Jaewon recalled the time when Jung Soojung used to be active in an idol fan club. He made a sound similar to a beast’s cry at the end of every sentence, lowered his eyebrows into the shape of the character 八, and covered his mouth with his hands. Utilizing the sunlight pouring from behind the delinquent, he even threw in reactions like, “I can’t open my eyes because of your aura.”

Problematic youths who went astray were bound to have inflated self-esteem. There were also many cases where they deliberately caused trouble to become famous. Utilizing that point, Jaewon used to disrupt their minds like this to escape crises whenever he got into trouble while acting as a photo-snapping informant.

“…”

However, for some reason, the delinquent showed a nonchalant response as if he were accustomed to this situation. Sweeping up his hair, he stared intently at Jaewon before breaking the silence.

“Who are you.”

It was a sharp question that didn’t get swept away by the show. However, Jaewon, who had no identity to reveal, ignored it and moved on to the next step.

“Hyung is really handsome, and you rap well too.”

“What? Don’t spread rumors, you crazy bastard. When did I ever rap?”

“You’re perfect from head to toe, seriously. The truth of life. Insane.”

In the process of reciting the praise poem, the opponent strongly protested, but he didn’t mind and winked while shooting hand guns.

“You’re so cool. Even a guy would fall for you.”

“…”

‘Even the last rhyme was perfect.’

Feeling a sense of accomplishment at his soul-drained kiss-ass performance, Jaewon panted for breath. Suppressing the urge to give someone a energetic high five, he awaited the evaluation.

The guy didn’t move an inch. He stayed still until the cigarette ash, which had burned down uselessly, fell to the ground. Around the time Jaewon was worrying, ‘Was the wink a bit disgusting?’, he suddenly chuckled.

“And here I thought you were going to tattle to mom saying, ‘The Hyungs in school uniforms are smoking~’.”

“Hahaha. Me? You, Hyung? No way~.”

‘Wrong. I’m going to report you to the community center.’

At the much softened tone, Jaewon formed a smile of satisfaction. At this rate, he would smoothly escape the guy’s clutches, deliver justice at the community center, and go home to….

“You were a perverted bastard. Hand over the phone, you bastard.”

“Ugh.”

A rough hand grabbed the back of Jaewon’s neck while he was soaked in a sweet dream.

“Ah, I saw something so weird that my mind went blank for a second.”

The delinquent shivered as if he had seen a horrific sight. Sweeping his hand down his face repeatedly, he shook his head and blinked his eyes as if trying to pull himself together. Jaewon, who had intended to exit amidst a harmonious atmosphere, trembled with a sense of betrayal and burst out in fury.

“A guy whose blood on his head hasn’t even dried yet is already discounting his conscience. In a capitalist society, if something goes out, something should come in, you bastard. If a person acted cute to this extent, shouldn’t you overlook it out of appreciation for their sincerity as noblesse oblige?”

“You’ve finally revealed your true colors.”